Lyneham plans to go on display

DETAILED plans for the development of RAF Lyneham will go on display to the public next month.

The plans will be shown as part of a public exhibition for the proposed development of a Defence College of Technical Training at Lyneham after the RAF moved out in December.

In July 2011, the Ministry of Defence announced that RAF Lyneham had been chosen as the base for a new site which would centralise the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force technical training currently located at several sites across the country.

Councillor Peter Doyle, chairman of Royal Wootton Bassett and Cricklade Area Board, said: “MOD plans for investing more than £200m in developing the new Defence College of Technical Training at Lyneham are highly important both meeting the future armed forces requirements across all three services for technical training and, more particularly, for us locally for the economic prosperity of North Wiltshire.

“I encourage people to come to the exhibition and find out more about the plans.”

The exhibition, which is on March 12 from 2pm until 8pm, and March 13 from 10am until 2pm, will take place in St Andrew’s Church, The Green, in Lyneham.

There will be a chance to find out more about the proposals, ask questions of the project team, and give feedback about the plans.

A planning application for the site is expected to be submitted in May.

Work on Tranche 1 is expected to start in January 2014 and it is hoped it will be finished by the end of 2015, with training starting then.

The army will be the first to move into Lyneham and relocate technical training for the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineer from the two sites at Arborfield, Berkshire, and Bordon, Hampshire, by the end of 2015.

Once that move has been completed, there will be about 2,000 military and civilian personnel based at Lyneham.

At its last meeting in January, the area board gave its support for the programme of work, as presented, for the Defence College of Technical Training.

A website consultation was launched in November last year, which received responses from more than 100 people. A total of 95 per cent were in support of an ongoing military presence.

The consultation also identified issues to be addressed in the planning process, including proposals for access and the impact of traffic.

For more information about the plans, visit http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/rwbandck-area-board-dttp-presentation.pdf or http://www.mod.uk/lynehamplanning.